What Lies Beyond The Grave
by Gone Into Oblivion
Summary: Have you ever felt that your own shadow is following you? Have you ever wondered the life beyond the grave? Have you ever been so afraid that you couldn't even move? No? Then witness the spine - chilling horror of Bella Swan...If you want pure horror, then come and read it!


**Chapter – 1**

He got out of his wrecked car and shoved his hands in his pocket. It was freezing cold. The fog was so dense that he could hardly see anything. That was the reason why he wasn't able to see the broken tree in the middle of the road, and his car accidently hit that tree.

The night was pitch black. But there was a dim auburn light emanating from a distance, towards the left side of the street. The light was coming through the windows. It looked like the resident(s) have lit fire, instead of artificial lights.

A strange melancholy bubbled inside his chest. Surely, this was not his day. He glanced towards his right – towards the murky woods – and wondered how any _sane_ person could live here. This place was ideal for a _Dracula_ film shoot. He remembered 'Graveyard Ahead' sign while he was driving, 20 miles away. _How apt_. His mouth twisted into a smirk at the irony.

With a deep sigh, he slammed the door of the car shut – cringing when the broken glass shattered on the gravel, its sound harshly breaking through the silence of the still night air – and jogged towards the house.

He swiftly climbed the steps, his hand automatically reaching upward, and coming up empty. He blinked, perplexed. There was no doorbell, just a door handle. He grasped the unbelievably monstrous door handle and knocked it against the door three times.

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

There was no commotion, no footsteps, no evidence of life, absolutely nothing. The air seemed to grow more still, silence more profound. So he was startled when the door opened suddenly at his face.

"Greetings gentleman." A voice purred smoothly.

A girl had appeared in the doorway. He was once more shocked, not because of the situation this time, but because of the stunning, heart breaking beauty of the woman. Or a girl, rather.

She looked not a day above seventeen. Her height was around five feet. Her heart – shaped face was pale in complexion, and her mahogany locks flowed like a waterfall around her face. She was all white skin, dark air. She was impeccably dressed in a lavender gown with no straps, and this highlighted her swan like neck and collar bone.

Her cheeks started turning a devastatingly beautiful, delicate hue of pink when he didn't say anything.

"Did I startle you, stranger?" she laughed a soft, enchanting laugh. He felt like he had entered a vintage movie.

"Huh?" he couldn't look away from her mesmerising chocolate brown eyes. They were miles deep, and he wanted to go deeper…..

Why was he going to so poetic suddenly?

"With the door, I mean…" the girl went on. She ran her little, pale fingers through the dark, curtain – like hair of hers.

He blinked – breaking his gaze from the spell bounding beauty in front of him – realizing that he was staring at her like a fool.

"No, no…" he hurried through his words, explaining, "….my car over here has broken. Actually, I hit the fallen tree while driving." He gestured his hand towards the tree where it had fallen, and behind it was his car. "And didn't know where the mechanic lives…." He went on, quickly averting her attention from the broken car, "….so I was wondering, is there any place where I can stay for the night?"

The girl smiled. "Why don't you stay here, stranger?"

He sighed in relief. That is what he was hoping for.

The girl was still smiling. She lifted her hands towards him. "Bella." She murmured. Bella? Why would she call him Bella?

_She is telling you her name, dammit!_

"Oh." He shook her hand back, relishing in the feel of her extremely delicate feel of her fingers and wrist. "I am Edward. You have a beautiful name, if I may be so bold, Ms Bella." He was just being honest.

The girl – _Bella_ – giggled, and he felt warmer at heart. She had a lovely giggle.

"It _means_ beautiful." She said.

"Come on in, Edward." She crooned now, her voice reminding him of honey and silk.

He followed her inside. To him, her pretty face was child – like and lovely, on its way of turning into a beautiful woman.

He stepped inside the house. _Hah_! He had been right in his assessment. There were no artificial lights, just candles and fire in the fireplace. That was why the huge hall was dimly lit.

The hall was divided into two junctions. One side held a massive bookcase, some vintage paintings and an antique dining table with some chairs. The other side held two small sofas and a big one, and a glass table in front of the bigger sofa. The sofas were olive green and thick with dust. There was an enormous staircase towards the back leading towards the first floor, and a huge window towards the west. Bella was leading him towards the latter.

"Sit down, Edward." She gestured towards one of the smaller sofas. "You must be freezing. I will make you some coffee." She smiled and went away, into some dark part of the strange house, which was probably the kitchen. He didn't see where she was going; he was busy checking out a photo frame lying on the glass table in front of him. It was a figure of a bull, or a goat? The goat was adjusted inside a six – pointed star. Was this a symbol of baphomet? He observed more closely.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" Edward jumped with shock over the sound, rather shriek of a man.

He quickly kept the photo frame down on the table.

He hopped from the sofa and looked towards the source of the cacophony with wide eyes. He could see a silhouette of a man at the foot of the stairway.

The man wore a thick brown shawl. He stepped forward and Edward could see his face clearly. The man looked about fifty. He wore shabby clothes and worn off shoes and was holding a thick book in one hand.

He lunged towards Edward.

"I ASKED YOU SOMETHING! ANSWER ME!"

Edward stepped back, terrified. "I am sorry, Sir. I didn't know this was your home. A girl lives here. She brought me here because, well, my car broke….." he trailed off uncomfortably. He didn't like the way the man was glaring at him.

The man stopped a few meters away from Edward. "A girl? WHAT GIRL? NO ONE LIVES HERE!"

Edward cringed away from him, from the crass cacophony.

"Sir, I think you are mistaken. A girl of about five feet lives here. She was wearing a lavender gown. She had brown locks, I think she resembled you….." impossible as it may seem, Edward had noticed the man's eyes. His eyes were also chocolate brown, but not as mesmerising at Bella's. The man suddenly thrust his thick book in front of Edward's face.

_Memories_ ALBUM, it was in scripted. Edward looked up at the man, bewildered.

The man flipped opened the album from the last page – all the while glaring at Edward – and Edward gasped at what he saw.

It consisted of Bella's snapshot. She was wearing the same lavender coloured gown and was gazing the camera from under her eyelashes. The background was all blurry.

"So you mean you saw _her_?" the man spat through his clenched teeth. _What was his problem?_

"Yes! Wearing the same gown!" Edward exclaimed.

"Whoever comes here narrates the same story and I don't believe them 'cuz I don't believe in ghosts!" the man lashed out.

"Ghosts?" Edward repeated, confused.

"Yes! BECAUSE SHE IS DEAD!" the man bellowed. "She was my daughter. She was going on a prom night with Jacob. _That was the night when she died_."

"_What_?" Edward couldn't believe his ears.

He should never have come here, he thought. What was with the man? Where was Bella? Was it okay to leave a guest alone with a lunatic person?

Gentle footsteps against the wooden floor distracted him. He looked towards the source. Bella was emerging from a dark room with a tray and two mugs in her hands.

Edward sighed in relief at the sight of her. This man was surely a loon. "Here is your daughter, mister." He gestured towards Bella as she came forward – her expression terrified – and stood beside the man.

_Why does she look terrified?_ Edward thought, confused. _Probably because her guest is facing her loony father. What an embarrassment for her. Hah!_

The man looked here and there, his expression sceptical. His eyes landed on Bella, but only for a fleeting second. His gaze then met Edward's.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I _said_.." Edward was now getting angry at the extremely weird and annoying behaviour of the man. ".._this_ girl standing _right next to you_ is your fucking _daughter_!"

The man jumped at his outburst. Edward felt a sense of satisfaction. _This is how you are making me feel, you grey beard loon!_

However, Edward's satisfaction was replaced with irritation as the man looked at the direction where Edward was pointing and his gaze _again_ passed Bella's figure, as if she wasn't present there.

"Where?" the man asked.

_Enough_! Edward grasped the girl's elbow tightly – ignoring Bella's whimper of pain – and gritted through his teeth.

"_This. Is. Bella_." He was beyond mad now.

"Why the devil are you grasping the air? Where _is_ Bella?" the man repeated.

Edward looked at Bella's terrified eyes, now. She was blinking back tears.

"You are dead?" he finally asked her, not caring if he sounded as loony as that man.

"Whom are you talking to?" the man interrupted.

Edward refused to break away his gaze from Bella. "Answer me. Are you dead?" he asked slowly and deliberately, tightening his grip on her elbow.

He didn't care now if he was talking to a ghost. He just wanted his answers.

"Are you kidding me?" the girl sobbed. A glistening tear rolled down her cheek. "I am not dead. Don't believe a word he says, Edward. He was my father, Charlie Swan."

"Was?" Edward interjected. Dread finally settled in his stomach.

"He died last year because of kidney failure, Edward. Believe me." The girl was full on crying now.

Edward released his hold on her and staggered back a few steps.

"What did you say?" nothing made sense now. The fate had played a hideous joke on him. He wished he had never entered this dreadful place. He lamented that he had hit that broken tree. He wished he were driving carefully. And lastly, he wanted all this to be a dream. He waited for a moment when he would open his eyes and all this would vanish.

But this was not a dream. Or even a nightmare, for that matter.

"Do not believe him, Edward. He was an abuser before death. He is taking revenge on me, now, because he thinks he died because of me, which is true, in fact. I didn't have enough money to pay for his treatment."

Edward looked at the man – Charlie – with dread.

Charlie was glaring him, and he looked like he was trying to figure out what was Edward doing. He didn't look at Bella at all.

"Whom are you talking to?" Charlie barked at him.

"But she says…..you…..I…dead…" Edward stuttered, not knowing what to say, _how_ to say.

"What?" Charlie barked again and Edward cringed at the sound of his harsh voice.

"Don't believe a word he says, Edward." Bella repeated again, in a whisper now.

Edward whipped his head back at her and then stumbled back, wanting to get out of here. He stared at the two of them – Charlie was glaring at him and Bella weeping – with wide, terrified eyes.

"Where do you think you are going?" Charlie roared. "No one ever can go out of this house…..ALIVE!" he laughed loudly.

Edward gaped with pure horror at the laughing man. The resonance of his laughing voice echoed through the silent walls, and for a moment Edward was worried that Charlie would awake the sleeping demons within the dark confines of the dreaded house.

Bella was looking at him sadly, "Don't leave me with him, Edward….."She pleaded quietly.

"_What_? No!" Edward stumbled back, and, in a hurry to get away, he tripped over something and fell down.

He looked above with pure horror, and then thaw that Charlie was grinning at Bella now. Bella was smirking too. _What_? Edward gaped at the father and the daughter.

"Think we succeeded?" Charlie asked her.

"Yeah! Look at him! He is pale with fear." She giggled.

Edward hurriedly got to his feet, gaping at the couple.

"What?" he barked.

Charlie came forward, laughing.

"I am sorry for scaring you, son. But this was Bella's idea, not mine." He flinched when Charlie patted his shoulders.

"Oh, come on Edward! I am not a ghost, neither is she. We fool around all the time." He said reassuringly.

Edward looked at the sweet and innocent looking Bella. He hadn't imagined she would be behind the entire prank. She was looking down at the floor and giggling softly. She was blushing, too.

~WLBTG~

"So, Edward," Charlie said, "What brings you here, in this wretched area, tonight?"

"I was just passing, sir." Edward muttered.

Charlie was fumbling in a bureau, now, which was beside the windows. Bella was sprawled on the sofa, shyly peeking at Edward now and then. Edward too was sitting on the sofa, beside her, resting his forearms on his knees.

"What's your age, Edward?" Bella asked Edward in a high, childlike voice; so unlike the ladylike voice she used on him earlier. This made him wonder about her age too. She looked too young, too tender.

"Twenty – eight." He looked at her while answering and smirked when Bella's eyes widened. "What is _your_ age?" he asked her.

"Seventeen." She chimed. Edward chuckled. So he had been right in his assessment.

He observed Bella closely, now. Something about her made him want to come closer to her. She made him hungry. Not the usual hunger, of course.

Bella squirmed at his intense stare and looked away, looking nervous. Edward snorted internally. She really was a kid.

That did not change the fact that he wanted to whisk her away from here, alone with him, in one of the dark corners of the house. He was no more worried about the hidden demons in the house.

Charlie came to sit on one of the smaller sofas, then. He was holding something in his hands. When Edward looked at him, confused, Charlie grinned widely. _I got a big, whopping secret!_ Charlie's exuberant eyes said.

_He really is a loon_. Edward thought wryly. The big old pendulum clock on the wall tolled 11.

"What about a game?" Charlie asked Bella.

"Sure, daddy!" she chirped, clapping her hands together. Now she looked odd to Edward in that elegant gown. Oddly, she looked sexier whilst acting like a child, as compared to a lady. Her wide, doe like eyes went exuberant, too, just like Charlie's. But, of course, every expression on her face was a lot more interesting and lovely as compared to the lunatic old man.

"What game?" Edward asked.

"The Ouija Board, of course!" It was Bella who answered him, "That's what you play when alone in night with a company." Her eyes went round when she reasoned, gesturing wildly with her hands, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

It was so fucking cute that Edward wanted to tease her.

So he did. "Really?" he teased. Bella knew at once he was teasing. She nodded sheepishly and then looked away again.

Edward rolled his eyes at Charlie, "You both play, I will watch,"

Charlie placed the Ouija Board on the glass table and kept the pointer above it. He had taken the baphomet photo frame and beside the sofa, on the floor.

_Whatever_.

It was the usual crap that was shown in movies. It consisted of A to Z alphabets, 0 – 9 numbers and a _Yes_, _No _sign.

Charlie was grinning, "You _both_ will be watching, only I would be playing." He explained.

Edward frowned, "I have heard that you would need partners for this c-"he was going to say crap, but it sounded rude, so he held his tongue, "-game." He improvised.

"Oh, never mind the rules. I can concentrate alone. Just you wait and watch. I am gonna call an evil spirit today…" Charlie finished in an eerie voice; or so he thought. Bella snickered and Edward rolled his eyes again.

"We should be careful, though." Charlie was muttering as he adjusted the pointer in the position he desired, "Once the evil spirit comes, it is hard to get rid of them."

Charlie closed his eyes and kept the index finger of his hand on the pointer, which was supposed to move when the _evil spirit_ would come. _Ridiculous_. The pointer was in the middle of the board.

In the meantime, Bella got up and blew out all the candles and diffused all the fires. Only one candle was left burning. She grasped the candle and then kept it near the Ouija Board. Then, she draped all the curtains and came too sit beside Edward, very close.

She clutched Edward's elbow with both her tiny hands tightly. Edward looked at her in surprise and saw that she was not looking at him – the gesture was vague, or casual – but staring at her father with excitement surging in her eyes. She seemed a little too giddy. She shifted a lot more close to Edward until there was no friction space left between them.

Was she casual or trying to _cuddle_ with him?

Either way was fine with him.

He had to try to keep his hands to himself, though. It wasn't easy.

He would have her soon enough, after all this scandal. He promised himself.

Edward sighed and stared at Charlie, too. Charlie's eyes were closed, his position stiff, unmoving. His finger hadn't moved one inch. It looked like he was still concentrating. _Lunatic, old man_.

Yet he looked a bit uncanny, a bit scary in the auburn candlelight and an intense, concentrated expression on his face. Edward supposed that Bella had done this for the added effect. Maybe they were trying to scare him again.

Edward turned his head slightly towards Bella. "Are you afraid?" he asked her.

"A bit." She blushed.

Edward sighed again. That was going to be a long night.

~WLBTG~

Within twenty minutes, Bella had gotten up, paced, vanished into the kitchen for some cookies, sat down on the sofa again, traced Edward's lines on his palm, again paced…

At eleven thirty sharp, Edward spoke again.

"I think I should leave."

He didn't know why he said it. Maybe for a bit of antics?

"But your car is broken." Bella stated, surprised.

"Yeah, I think I will search for a mechanic or something." Edward mumbled.

"No! No! Please don't go! This is not a good area, Edward. Charlie will call for mechanic in the morning." She pleaded desperately.

She didn't want Edward to leave. Not yet. The fun was just about to happen. When she had gone into the kitchen for some snack, she had called Jacob to come at their house at midnight. She and Charlie had plotted this, and wanted Jacob to play the evil spirit. Both of them wanted to scare Edward, to give him creeps, so that he would remember this for a lifetime. Charlie did it for fun. Guests and _people_ in general were so exceedingly rare in that area that whenever someone came, Charlie didn't want to give up on that opportunity.

Bella wanted to take revenge from Edward. The first scare was for fun. But Edward had been staring weirdly at Bella the whole evening, making her uncomfortable. She wanted a payback from the pale stranger.

Charlie wasn't in on that plan, obviously. But the moment he would see Jacob he would understand.

That was why Edward couldn't leave right now.

Edward sighed. "You asked for it." he murmured so low that Bella couldn't hear, and then smirked suddenly with sudden exultation.

Bella smiled at the sudden excitement on Edward's face. Maybe he thought that they were childish, or that a real spirit would come. Anyway, she felt proud that she had convinced Edward to stay.

_See if he would be laughing much when we would be scaring the life out of him_. She thought smugly.

At 11:55, Charlie broke the silence of the house by loudly asking, "Is there anyone out here?"

His index finger – which was on the pointer – didn't move.

"I repeat – IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE?"

Bella jumped at his loud voice and watched with fascination when Charlie's finger dragged the pointer towards the _Yes_ sign.

Edward looked at Bella, bewildered. Bella laughed at his expression; it was so comical.

"He was always a good stage actor." She explained, laughing internally when Edward's body sagged with relief.

"Where are you?" Charlie asked. His eyes still closed.

Bella jumped away from the sofa to read when the pointer started moving at an incredible rate. It felt like it was moving on its own, or some force was moving it. But Bella knew it was Charlie. How could he not?

"R – I – G – H – T H – E – R – E." she read each syllable distinctly and then repeated it together. "Right here? Wow Daddy! Again!"

"Bella." Bella turned and saw that Edward was standing. He looked wary.

"What?" she whispered.

"I think that's enough of the acting. We really should stop, now."

"Chillax." She grinned, thinking she was cool that she had managed to get a grown – up scared. "You don't believe in ghosts, do you?" she asked rhetorically and then turned back towards her father.

"Right where?" Charlie asked.

"O – U – T – S – I – D – E" Bella read. Amazing, how did Charlie know that Jacob was about to come? What was going on?

Charlie's brow furrowed and finally, his eyes snapped open. He looked confused, Bella noted. That meant Charlie didn't know what the plan was.

But how was that possible? Then why did Charlie moved the pointer so that _outside_ can be read?

Maybe he was just acting, Bella concluded. He was a good actor.

"What does that mean?" Charlie asked to no one in particular. He blinked as he took in the surroundings. Bella was looking at Charlie with the same confusion as he felt and Edward was standing and looking at both of them, seemingly angry and wary.

_Bang, Bang, Bang_.

"Arrgh!" Bella jumped and laid a hand over her heart when she heard the knocking.

Charlie stared at Bella, a little afraid, but smiling excitedly.

"Here comes our ghost."

Bella got up to get the door. Edward stopped her by holding her elbow. Bella stared at him, impatient and confused.

"Look." Edward told her, "Are you sure?" Charlie glared at him and Edward muttered quickly, "I mean you don't wanna open that door."

"Don't be a poor sport, Edward." Bella said soothingly, "Nothing is gonna happen."

"At least, let Mr Charlie go." He said.

Charlie nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah Bells let me get that door." and with that, he went away, accidently knocking the candle off the table – diffusing the flame – leaving both of them in absolute darkness. He mumbled a quick apology and then went to get the door.

Bella squinted at Edward's barely visible dark silhouette for a moment and then stumbled after Charlie, too eager to have waited behind.

Bella peered behind after travelling a few meters and could not see anyone.

_Maybe he hid behind the sofa_. She thought wryly. _What a wimp_. She took off towards the door.

The sound of the huge door opening echoed through the dark and silent house, and then there was absolute silence.

The clock tolled 12 when the pendulum _dunged_ three times. After a few seconds, little Bella's terrified shriek tore through the silence.

Outside, Bella was grasping Charlie Swan's arm tightly and shrieking loudly, as if screeching would change the circumstance. Charlie swan was staring ahead with disbelief, his eyes popping out of the sockets. He had not yet grasped what was happening. In life, he has scared many people, but he had never thought that _this_ sort of thing would happen to him, that _this….. _This occurrence in front of him was even possible.

There was the broken car of Edward's in the street in front of the house, and one could see a corpse from the broken window in the passenger seat, badly mutilated. Blood had flowed from its head, down till its shirt. Its eyes were wide open, as if it was shocked that this had happened to him.

And the corpse was of Edward.

And Edward's spirit was standing in front of the passenger door, grinning from ear to ear. His eyes glinted wickedly.

He murmured in a singsongy voice, "Once the evil spirit comes, it is hard to get rid of them…."

Jacob's jeep stopped behind Edward's car. He was shocked to see Charlie and Bella Swan at the door.

He called from the window, "Am I late?"

~WLBTG~

The front page of the local newspaper consisted of an article:-

_Cops have found the dead bodies of two people in a broken car beside a big, old mansion at six in the morning. It was suspected that the car had it the tree, and the driver – namely Edward Masen – was spot dead. The cops have secured the driver's licence and the passport._

_Rather a strange thing was also witnessed by the cops. The corpse of the second individual – namely Charlie Swan – in the passenger seat was six hours old, but Edward Masen's corpse was eight and a half hours old. _

_Charlie Swan lived in that mansion that was in front of the car, with his daughter. It has not yet been figured out that why his body was in the passenger seat._

_A young boy of 18 – namely Jacob Black – was also present at the time of the incident. But despite all the attempts by the cops, he had not uttered a word. He seemed numb with shock. He was sent to a shrink._

_Charlie Swan's daughter, Bella Swan's clothes were found on the doorway of the mansion, but she was nowhere to be seen. The cops are still investigating about her whereabouts._

_This reporter feels that something very strange and frightening had occurred at the stroke of midnight hour._

~WLBTG~

**What do you think? Shall I continue?**


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